Advent Reflections 2015 - Pray for me

The words “Pray For Me” signal a person in need. And when someone is in need — because of illness, a broken relationship, loss of work, a spiritual crisis, or grief, it is as if he or she is carrying a heavy bucket — a bucket filled with emotion, filled with grief, filled with confusion, filled with disappointment. …

A person in need or in grief is carrying around this bucket of emotion. An intercessor is one who comes alongside that individual with an empty bucket. The person in need gives his or her agenda to the intercessor, and the intercessor receives that agenda as the work of God, namely prayer. Intercession is carried out by those with enough space in their lives to include the needs of others: family, friends, congregations, communities, and the world.

-Kenneth H. Carter Jr.
“Pray for Me”

From page 10 of “Pray for Me”: The Power in Praying for Others by Kenneth H. Carter Jr.